By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics What could be a better centerpiece for your dessert table than a polyhedral cantaloupe? Try making this “Leonardo style” dodecahedron in which the edges are solid and the faces are open. To warm up for it, you might first want to make all five Platonic solids from […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Continuing our fiber arts theme of past weeks, today’s Math Monday offers an excellent example of mathematical needlepoint. This piece illustrates a Hilbert curve, taken to the sixth approximation. The continuously changing color of the thread makes it easy for your eye not to lose its place […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics The traditional craft of quilting can be used to make many mathematical forms. While quilters have always used geometry to work out repeating patterns, some modern quilters go further in using mathematical objects as the subjects of their quilts. Here are two impressive examples by Sarah Mylchreest […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Each year I visit the annual Origami convention in New York City, and this year, as always, I was impressed by the wide range of works on display. The mathematical examples get more sophisticated each year. Here are just four examples to illustrate a range of folding […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics A twisted torus is a donut which twists as it closes on itself. It is a visually engaging mathematical design used by many artists through the ages. The origins of the idea are unknown, but below is a woodcut, published by the German graphic artist Johannes Lencker […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Here’s a challenge: Make something cool from binder clips. It will be tough to beat this spherical construction by Yang Enqi. Using one handle, five clips of one color are linked cyclically into a pentagon. Using the other handle, twelve of these pentagons assemble like a dodecahedron […]
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics Paper is a versatile medium for experimentation and construction. Krystyna Burczyk has made beautiful sculptures by rolling paper squares to produce spiral corners that clasp together. They lock together without glue to create a kind of floral construction like modular origami but with spiral connections. This one […]
